the ongoing tension of the already/not yet

We all long for something better, although as C. S. Lewis pointed out, we’re all too ready to settle for a second best, which is at best only a hint of the life we are meant for. I think my biggest challenge along this line is simply the reality of the already/not yet across the board. That would include me along with the rest of reality.

In the already, Jesus has come and God’s grace and kingdom in him. We catch glimpses of that grace and glory and at times bask in it, hopefully a bit here and there each day, sometimes in special ways perhaps during a vacation or prolonged quiet time with the Lord. Or even unexpectedly while living in the warp and woof of everyday life. God is present in Jesus. But we know that sense and experience, at least for most of us, certainly for me, comes and goes.

In the not yet, we long for the fulfillment and completion of what has begun in us, indeed what has begun on earth through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The making of all things new, judging that which is wrong and bringing in full salvation. Yes, through Jesus, through his death and resurrection all things will be made new, “the world put to rights,” and we certainly by faith are given that living hope, which doesn’t die just because it has yet to be realized. Being a hope, as it says in scripture, means it is something we look forward to. So that even while enduring some of the worst storms of this life we carry within ourselves by the Spirit that something more which will come to full fruition when Jesus returns. A something more not only for us, but for the entire world.

And so, this is where I live day after day. Knowing I haven’t arrived and sometimes struggling in that realization and reality. Even as I also live in the reality to come by the Spirit, yes, even what God has prepared for those who love him, the beginning of that given to us even now in this life in and through Jesus.